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JIMMY NEUTRON:
BOY GENIUS
Where were you when you heard about the nomination?
Hecht: I was on the street outside Toy Fair, about to go in to breakfast. My wife called me and she just started screaming. I didn’t know what she was saying. I almost got hit by a car! When she calmed down and told me, I went into shock. I didn’t believe it!
Davis: My wife and I got up early to hear them. I didn’t really allow myself to think that we would actually be nominated, but I set the alarm anyway. I’m glad I did.
Oedekerk: I was sleeping. I have an insane work schedule. I do the double-shift thing: work during the day and then hang out with my family till they go to bed. That’s when I brainstorm new ideas. I think I went to sleep at 4:45 am and got a call at 6:00 am. I was very much in a dream state.
Davis: It’s just so odd because these things don’t happen. It was just a little idea - an after-hours project a few years ago. Then, suddenly, it’s a feature film - and now it’s an Oscar-nominated feature film!
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NEUTRON DANCERS
writer/producer/director John A Davis (left);
writer/producer Steve Oedekerk(below right); and Nickelodeon’s
Albie Hecht (below left), who also produced the film. |
Does it mean more to you since this is the first year the Academy has a category for animated feature films?
Davis: I didn’t even think about that till days later. We’re part of history here! That’s such a cool feeling, because you always hope to leave a mark.
What would Jimmy have to say about the nomination?
Oedekerk: He already has a big head physically, so we’re all a little worried. But he’ll probably stay fairly grounded. Jimmy would definitely be very touched and very thankful - and then he would immediately be trying to come up with some contraption that ensures he wins! He’s still a kid, so he’d be trying to invent some kind of an envelope name-changing ray, or something like that, just in case. If he wins, he’d probably clone his Oscar and have a whole shelf of them.
Davis: I think that he would probably start exploring ways to manipulate the system. ‘OK, now how is this thing judged and who is making these decisions? Where does that envelope go? Let’s see. I’ve got my Inviso-ray…’
Does it feel like a David-and-Goliath type of thing to go up against DreamWorks and especially Disney, who have been making animated films for almost a century?
Davis: Absolutely. We’re definitely the new kids on the block. And we did it all with off-the-shelf software - the same tools that a lot of guys have been using to animate stuff at home.
Hecht: We were like the independent film next to those huge campaigns. I thought it was a long shot. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was made in a tiny little studio in Dallas, not in Hollywood - the little engine that could!
Davis: We don’t have all of the proprietary tools that Pixar [Shrek] or PDI [Monsters, Inc] have. It was much more like the garage-band mentality: you get a bunch of guys and you hole up in your garage for a couple of years. And then, suddenly, you pop out with this really neat thing!
Who do you see as your fiercest competition, come Oscar night? Monsters, Inc or Shrek?
Hecht: I think they’re both brilliant movies - I couldn’t make that choice. John Lassiter, Pixar and that team have made a terrific movie. Shrek is a big ogre who’s hilarious. I think they’re both formidable.
Oedekerk: I’ve been such a fan of Pixar from day one, meaning their short films from years ago. We’re just honoured to be mentioned in the same category as these other guys.
Davis: Gosh, they’re both just juggernauts. I mean, Shrek is one of the highest-grossing films ever and Monsters, Inc did extremely well critically and at the box office. I really liked Monsters, Inc a lot. I think that’s the stiffest competition.
How is Nickelodeon animation different from Disney or DreamWorks?
Davis: One of the things that led us to take Jimmy to Nickelodeon was their sense of fun. In the old golden age of animation in the forties, Warner Bros were looked at as the jazz to Disney’s classical. You could look at Nickelodeon as more rock ‘n’ roll.
Hecht: We’ve always made a left when everybody else went right. So when we got into animation, we wanted to figure out the same differentiation in feature films. And what we decided was just, like, Nickelodeon’s a contemporary brand: we were going to be contemporary. That meant no fairy tales and no historical sagas. Rugrats became the first animated movie about a contemporary family. And we had a point of view about music that went with that. Instead of Broadway scores, we went with Busta Rhymes. Everybody that got into animation jumped in, trying to mimic the classical style of Disney. We said, ‘No, we’re going to embrace other styles’.
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